This article was originally published by IAM, and
has been republished with permission.

In response to international sanctions imposed on Russia as part
of the country's confrontation with the West over the political
situation in Ukraine and the Crimean peninsula, the Russian
President Vladimir Putin signed a decree in 2014 to prohibit the
import of certain products and foodstuffs produced in the United
States, the European Union, Norway, Canada and Australia.

The main issue facing those trying to enforce the new legal
regulations was the lack of customs control at the borders of the
Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). Consisting of Russia, Armenia,
Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, the EAEU is based on the
principle of free trade, with goods circulating within its
territory without additional customs control. This has presented a
significant challenge to Russian Customs, as products sanctioned
under the 2014 decree could thus be imported into other EAEU
countries and then transported to Russia. A radically different
approach was necessary in order to implement effective control over
the flow of sanctioned products and foodstuffs from EAEU member
states.

A new, specialised customs division, divided into mobile customs
groups, was created to detect and destroy sanctioned foodstuffs.
Consisting of customs officers and federal veterinary and
phytosanitary authority specialists, these groups were set up at
key points near the Russian border to regularly and consistently
patrol and inspect vehicles that come from EAEU member states. They
soon began cooperating with the border service, prosecutor's
office, consumer protection agency and the federal security
service.

From November 2015 to March 2017, mobile customs groups
inspected 121,900 vehicles carrying more than 4 million tonnes of
goods and detected 19,000 tonnes of prohibited products. Given its
success, they have also been used to detect other illegal products
(eg, drugs and counterfeit goods).

Mobile customs groups near Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan have been
some of the most productive due to the volume of traffic passing
through these areas from China. In 2017 mobile customs groups in
the Orenburg region identified more than 35,000 counterfeit
products that infringed on more than 60 brands, including Adidas,
Reebok, Dior, Gucci, Apple and Samsung. The same year, mobile
customs groups in the Samara region detected 80,000 counterfeit
items, ranging from clothing, shoes and bags to phone accessories
and perfume. A year later, mobile customs groups in the Samara,
Saratov and Orenburg regions together seized more than 400,000
counterfeit products entering Russia via Kazakhstan.

There are now plans to provide mobile customs groups with
additional cellular and satellite communications as well as
photographic and monitoring equipment to increase their capacity
and results. There is also a plan to strengthen the integration of
mobile customs groups with local police departments through joint
raids and unified databases.

Mobile customs groups have become an important
anti-counterfeiting force in Russia, presenting brand owners with
three clear imperatives to better protect their brands:

recordal – brand owners should
record their trademarks with Customs, making it easier for busy
customs officers to contact them via details available in the
Customs IP Register without contributing to congestion at border
crossings;

responsiveness – brand owners
should respond promptly to customs inquiries to ensure that
counterfeit goods are seized; and

open lines of communication –
concerned brand owners should seek to develop relationships with
customs departments at key locations, such as Samara, Saratov,
Orenburg, Novosibirsk, Tumen, Chita and Astrakhan, where mobile
customs groups have proven to be highly effective.

This event will run for 4 hours. Gowling WLG is an accredited provider with the Bar Standards Board (provider ID number 1940). For all other professions, we suggest that you check with your professional body or your learning and development team as to whether this event meets the CPD requirements for your profession.

This event will run for 4 hours. Gowling WLG is an accredited provider with the Bar Standards Board (provider ID number 1940). For all other professions, we suggest that you check with your professional body or your learning and development team as to whether this event meets the CPD requirements for your profession.

This event will run for 4 hours. Gowling WLG is an accredited provider with the Bar Standards Board (provider ID number 1940). For all other professions, we suggest that you check with your professional body or your learning and development team as to whether this event meets the CPD requirements for your profession.

Priority is a core concept of patent law as the novelty and obviousness of an invention is judged as of the priority date.

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